Defined by the legislature

by Thomas Mills, Politics NC, October 19, 2016.

The emails that the governor’s office released to the Charlotte Observer this week show, once again, Pat McCrory’s lack of political skills. While McCrory has been vigorous in his defense of House Bill 2, despite its negative effect on his re-election, emails show that he opposed the bill and fought against it before it was passed. Had he stood on principle instead of politics, he could have looked like the leader he wants people to believe him to be. Instead, he looks like a man in over his head.

McCrory has missed opportunities to define himself as a moderate, pragmatic governor since he first took office. McCrory arrived in Raleigh fully expecting to expand Medicaid and set up health insurance exchanges as part of the Affordable Care Act. Instead, he was rolled by the leaders of the General Assembly before he could even get his sea legs. Since then, he’s been defending the decision to reject millions in federal dollars and help thousands of more people get access to health care.

When the legislature passed restrictive abortion laws, McCrory signed them and defended them despite having pledged not to do so in his 2012 campaign. He could have vetoed the legislation but instead vetoed two bills that nobody cared much about. The legislature overrode his veto anyway. If he really needed to make a stand, he should have made it about something he promised and something that mattered more politically. Instead, he looked both weak and dishonest.

Now, it appears that McCrory picked politics over principle with his handling of HB2 and once again made the wrong decision. Losing a battle with members of your own party is not necessarily damaging when the people you are battling are taking the state in the wrong direction. McCrory could have defined himself as a moderate, pragmatic governor willing to reach across party lines to defend the state against extremism. Instead, he’s let himself be been defined by a legislature that he often opposes in private but defends in public.